Sports Briefing

Published: February 1, 2006

TENNIS

BECK AWAITS DRUG RULING -- Karol Beck failed a drug test in September after Slovakia's Davis Cup semifinal victory over Argentina and is awaiting a verdict from the sport's world governing body.

''Karol Beck informed us he attended a hearing at the International Tennis Federation 10 days ago, and we are expecting a verdict within the next couple of days,'' said Igor Moska, general secretary of the Slovak Tennis Association. Moska declined to identify the banned substance.

Beck would face a two-year ban if he is found guilty. He helped Slovakia beat Argentina, 4-1, in the Davis Cup semifinals. But the Slovak captain, Miroslav Mecir, kept Beck out of the final in December against Croatia, citing a lingering left knee injury.

Reports of Beck's positive test surfaced at the final, but he denied it. Croatia beat Slovakia, 3-2, in Bratislava for its first Davis Cup title. Beck is No. 76 in the ATP Tour rankings.

BLAKE JOINS DAVIS CUP -- James Blake will fill the No. 2 singles slot behind Andy Roddick for the United States Davis Cup team against Romania next month, but Andre Agassi could join the team later this year.

The regular doubles pair of the twins Bob and Mike Bryan will also be on the team for the first-round match Feb. 10-12 in La Jolla, Calif., the United States captain, Patrick McEnroe, said yesterday.

Last year, an American team of Agassi, Roddick and the Bryan brothers was eliminated in the first round by the eventual champion, Croatia.

OLYMPICS

U.S. ROSTER SUBMITTED FOR TURIN -- The United States Olympic Committee submitted its final roster for the Turin Olympics yesterday, a list of 211 athletes including Bode Miller, Michelle Kwan and Apolo Anton Ohno. Of the 211 Americans, 85 competed in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and 40 of those helped the United States set a record with 34 medals. One of the athletes, Sarah Konrad, is competing in two sports -- biathlon and cross-country. She is the first American woman to qualify for two sports at a Winter Olympics.

GOLF

SENIOR MAJOR AWARDED TO BALTIMORE -- The Senior Players Championship will move to Baltimore for five years beginning in 2007. The event, one of five major championships on the Champions Tour, will be played on Baltimore Country Club's East Course -- also known as Five Farms -- in October 2007. This year's Senior Players Championship is set for July 13-16 in Dearborn, Mich.

WIE T0 MAKE KOREAN DEBUT -- Michelle Wie will play for the first time in South Korea, accepting an invitation yesterday to play in the SK Telecom Open against the men on the Asian Tour. K. J. Choi is the defending champion of the tournament, to be held May 4-7 at a course to be determined. Wie was born and reared in Hawaii, but her parents are from South Korea, and Korean was the first language she learned.

COLLEGES

ILLINOIS APPEALS MASCOT DECISION -- The University of Illinois filed its second appeal of an N.C.A.A. decision that would require the university to drop its Chief Illiniwek athletic mascot and logo before it could hold any postseason competition.

The latest appeal, filed yesterday, seeks to persuade the N.C.A.A. to reverse a decision by its executive committee last August that concluded Chief Illiniwek was an example of ''hostile and abusive'' American Indian imagery.

The university appealed and a staff review committee in November upheld the ''hostile and abusive'' classification of Illiniwek, but allowed the university to keep its Illini and Fighting Illini nicknames.

The new appeal, to the same committee that approved the original policy, challenges the N.C.A.A.'s power to impose it.